Sunderland City Council has backed calls to introduce maternity and paternity leave for its councillors.

The landmark decision was passed at this week's full council meeting with cross-party support.

Currently, councillors don't have the same rights as other council workers with regards to parental leave.

Under current arrangements, when councillors have children, they must choose between physically attending duties or not.

Labour councillor Rebecca Atkinson said the motion had been four years in the making and stemmed from her experiences of balancing parental and councillor duties after giving birth in 2014.

"Although blessed with a beautiful boy, I was offered no legal protection from the council during this period," she told councillors at the Sunderland Civic Centre meeting.

"I was offered plenty of support, plenty of advice, plenty of guidance and above all plenty of positivity from members of my own group, but sadly no paternity policy."

A baby and mum (Image: PA)

The motion called for parental leave policies to apply to people regardless of gender, parents wanting to adopt and to encourage a wider range of people to become councillors in future.

It added that only 4% of councils in England and Wales have parental leave policies as of summer 2017, according to research by the Fawcett Society.

Coun Atkinson, launching the motion, argued adopting the Local Government Association's (LGA) Labour Women's Taskforce policy around parental leave would help "bring the council into the 21st century".

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"When I became a councillor I thought it was the most rewarding role but also the toughest, I hastily changed my mind when I became a mum," she added.

"To allow our councillors a breathing space with legal protection and a place of safety and respect to get to grips with their new role of a parent is something of the utmost importance to me and that's why I feel we need this parental leave policy.

"We're not asking for special treatment, this is what is afforded to everyone else, bar MPs, in this country.

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"I accept there is no parental leave of any kind in any elected office and these policies are only implemented on a voluntary basis.

"I personally believe that is wrong and will call on the government to introduce this vital piece of legislation.

"Our democracy at every level should be open to everyone."

The motion was backed by both Conservative and Liberal Democrat and Others groups on the council.

Deputy Leader of the Sunderland Lib Dems, Coun Stephen O'Brien, added he was "heartened to see true equality coming in in this chamber".

The motion reads:

This Council notes:

That analysis of the 2018 Local Election results by the Fawcett Society found that 34% of councillors in England are women, up 1% since 2017.

Of the seats that were up for election in 2018, 38% went to women, up just 3 percentage points on 2014 when these seats were last contested;

As of summer 2017, only 4% of councils in England and Wales have parental leave policies, according to research by the Fawcett Society;

That the role of a councillor should be open to all, regardless of their background, and that introducing a parental leave policy is a step towards encouraging a wider range of people to become councillors, and is also a step to encourage existing councillors who may want to start a family to remain as councillors.